


Food for thought.

by Cupa



Category: Real Person Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:40:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28612221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupa/pseuds/Cupa
Summary: A collection of stories or ideas that I think about often. Most of them dip their toes in philosophy, race issues, and politics, but are all central in view.Food for thought.
Kudos: 3





	1. "You can't say that, pa!"

This is a story passed down through my family, about my own great-great grandfather.

Since it's been passed down, I don't have all of the information, but I will try to keep things as faithful to what I was told. But, what matters is the message.

It deals heavily with the use of the N-word, but... I feel like it'd be a disservice to censor it. I will shorten the story so as to get to the point faster, but I feel like you'll appreciate its inclusion by the time you reach the end.

Nevertheless, I'll include some padding in case people with larger monitors don't want to see it and can skip to the next chapter.

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* * *

My grandfather, whom I affectionately know as "Gobble" due to his floppy neck skin resembling a Turkey, was a country boy. He lived on a farm for most his life, hanging 'round rednecks and preachers about as often as an old book sits on a shelf.

And, being a good family member, Gobble would frequently visit his grandpa.

But, there was one thing about him that Gobble always found troubling; one simple sentence he always said: "Well I just hate me a nigger."

Now, Gobble had some friends at school, but his bestest best friend was black, which made this statement concerning to him.

"I just hate me a nigger," his grandpa would always say. "They're lazy, good for nothin', and are ruining this country! I can't stand 'em!"

And things went on like that for a long time, but one day, Gobble just had to ask him "why do you hate black folk to much? My best friend is black and he ain't done anything wrong."

His grandfather merely chuckled at him, pointing over to a neighbor's house. "Ya see Mr. Jenkins over there? Whitest man this side of the Mississippi?"

"Yeah?"

"He's a nigger."

This statement immediately shoot Gobble, but before he could ask, he then gestured to a black man that was tending to another neighbor's garden.

"That man over there ain't a nigger. And I'll give you one hint as to what makes a man a nigger: it ain't their skin."

"What does it mean, then? I thought that word was used to hurt black people."

"Sure, it can be, but to be a nigger means to be worthless. Skin ain't got nothing to do with that. Now either I'm using the word wrong, or everyone else is."

* * *

This story is one I chew on a lot. On one hand, rather ignorant of great-great grandpappy, but on the other... he has a point.

Words are such an abstract thing. Why is "fuck" considered a bad word? Why do certain words even have to be tied to ideas like race?

If you wanted to extrapolate further, you could apply such thoughts to more man-made concepts.

Law, for example, is kind of pointless, isn't it? There's nothing preventing a criminal from breaking the law; yes they can be punished for it, but breaking laws is... trivial.

What truly gives these concepts power? Why do we let them have power? Is it good that these things have power over us?

Food for thought, I guess.


	2. The most evil men thought they were good.

When asked who the most evil men in history are, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin might cross one's mind.

Both caused the deaths of millions, had horribly flawed perspectives of the world, and their reign over their countries was wretched.

The thing that haunts me the most about them, however, is that they thought they were doing the right thing.

Now, I am no history expert, nor did I know either personally; both men died ages before I was even a sperm. So, take my statements with a grain of salt, and know that what I'm writing I genuinely hope to be untrue.

Hitler, whether it be rooted in propaganda he indulged in as a child or due to unfortunate circumstances, genuinely believed that the Jewish people were responsible for much of what was wrong with Germany. Was this factual? No. Did Hitler believe it? Yes. Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people was a genuine attempt to fix a problem, which horrifies me. Hitler, when you look past all the innocents massacred, the civilians brainwashed, and the war he waged, was actually trying to do something good.

Joseph Stalin was responsible for the deaths of between five million to six million people, whom were sent to gulags. Why did the gulags exist in the first place? Because Stalin genuinely believed that communism would fix the Soviet Union's problems if given enough time, and that those opposing communism were inadvertently making it more difficult for those problems to be fixed. Now, whether or not communism is even a good system is an entirely different debate in and of itself, but the fact remains that Stalin believed in it so much he sent six million people to their deaths.

Everyone is a hero in their own story. We, as humans, are only capable of experiencing life through our own eyes after all. It's impossible for us to know if there's even a world outside of what's directly in front of us! But, let's assume that everyone that you, dear reader, have ever spoken too isn't some figment of your imagination; that there's an actual person that created the text you're reading. By that logic, Hitler and Stalin were people too, and that should terrify everyone, in my humble opinion.

Nobody is born evil. If you left a child alone in the jungle and they somehow survived to adulthood, they would never even know the concept of morality. While Hitler and Stalin undoubtedly are considered evil, they at least believed that they were doing good. As the old saying goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

It's people like them who terrify me more than genuinely evil people. While most logical people will say that incessantly chasing fame, fortune, and power are the biggest wastes of time with far too much collateral to justify it, people like Hitler and Stalin were fighting for what everyone wants: a perfect world. But what is a perfect world?

That is the catch twenty-two of trying to make a utopia: your idea of "perfect" is undoubtedly going to clash with other people's ideas for "perfect." It is impossible to please everyone.

But amidst everyone are people who might actually agree. As shocking as it is, there are pockets of people who believe that Stalin and Hitler did the right thing. Even in the face of the atrocities that were committed, they stand by their ideas and beliefs. Something about their philosophies strikes a cord with some people, and lures them in. I even decided to do some research into Marxist and Nazi literature just to try and understand their madness, but the shocking thing is they make good points at times.

I, a normal person whom wholeheartedly despise the Nazis and Communists... agree with them on certain topics...

How terrifying.

**Author's Note:**

> What a way to come back to the archive, huh?
> 
> This series is experimental and more for myself than anyone else, but hopefully has enough appeal for people to get interested.
> 
> If you want to, you can join my discord:  
>   
> https://discord.gg/wnSDCn5nM9


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